Suspect in Sunday's double-homicide in Kalamazoo to be charged on Tuesday, police expect

View full sizeSpecial to the Gazette / John A. LackoThe orange markings on Elizabeth Street are part of the police investigation into the shooting deaths of Sheron Oneil Wright, 37, of Kalamazoo, and Lawanda Denise Rogers, 37, of Toledo, Ohio.

KALAMAZOO — Authorities expect the 56-year-old Kalamazoo man arrested in connection with a double homicide Sunday on the city’s North side to be formally charged with the deaths on Tuesday.

Kalamazoo police have not identified the man, pending arraignment, but authorities released late Monday morning the names of the man and woman killed in the shootings.

The victims, Sheron Oneil Wright, 37, of Kalamazoo, and Lawanda Denise Rogers, 37, of Toledo, Ohio, were shot outdoors in the 800 block of Elizabeth Street at around 4 a.m. Sunday.

The alleged shooter is being held at the Kalamazoo County Jail, pending review of the police investigation by the Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

A spokesman for the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said officers were immediately able to respond to the scene of the shooting early Sunday morning as officers were already in the neighborhood.

“They (officers) heard the shots being fired. ... There were multiple officers in the area and several responded,” said Brian Uridge, a KDPS assistant chief.

Officers found Wright and Rogers suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were transported to area hospitals where they were pronounced dead, Uridge said.

He said authorities are still investigating the circumstances that led to the shootings. Officers recovered a handgun they believe was used, he said.

Neighbors told a Gazette reporter that Wright and Rogers were having a conversation outside on the street when a resident ordered them away from his house, which is at the corner of Cobb Avenue and Elizabeth Street.

When Wright and Rogers refused to leave the area, the man came out of his house and shot them, residents told the Gazette.

Terrence Vaughn, who lives several houses from the shooting, said the gunshots woke him up. He said he went outside to investigate and found Wright and Rogers lying in the street while a third person was in one of two nearby vehicles.

Vaughn told a reporter that he knew all three people. He said the survivor of the shooting told him he and Wright were driving along Elizabeth Street when they saw Rogers, a longtime acquaintance, in another car.

Wright and Rogers hadn’t seen each other in awhile, Vaughn told a Gazette reporter, and they stopped their vehicles and got out to chat in the street near the corner of Cobb Avenue.

Uridge said that there is no evidence of any criminal activity between Wright and Rogers.

“It was completely random that the two victims ended up stopping in front of this particular house,” Uridge said.